Wilmington, DE is the largest city in Delaware and is home to a vibrant political scene. The city is governed by a seven-member city council, led by Mayor Mike Purzycki who was re-elected in 2020. Issues of importance to Wilmington residents include economic development, public safety, education and health care. Local elections are held regularly for City Council positions as well as for the Mayor's office. With a diverse population of more than 70,000 people coming from all walks of life, there is a wide range of interests that are represented in local politics. Residents regularly attend meetings and speak out on important issues that affect their lives. Political participation has become an essential part of Wilmington culture as citizens express their views and shape their community's future together at the local level.
The political climate in Wilmington, DE is strongly liberal.
New Castle County, DE is very liberal. In New Castle County, DE 67.8% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 30.7% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.5% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, New Castle county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 67.8% to 30.7%.
New Castle county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Wilmington, DE is strongly liberal.
New Castle County, Delaware is very liberal.
Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington Metro Area is strongly liberal.
Delaware is moderately liberal.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index is based on recent voting in national elections, federal campaign contributions by local residents, and consumer personality profiles.
VoteWord™
Displaying 20 years of Presidential voting, visualized in one word.
Wilmington, Delaware: D D D D D D
How It Works:
Here at BestPlaces, we were looking at the voting patterns since the 2000 election and realized that we could express the results of each election as one letter. R if the Republican Party candidate won, D if the Democratic Party candidate won and I if the Independent Party candidate won. The six elections (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020) would be expressed as six-letter word (R R D R R).
Then we went a little further and added the dimension of magnitude. If the difference of victory was greater than 10 percent, the letter is upper case, and lower case if the difference was less than 10 percent. This allows us to see interesting voting patterns at just a glance.
Here's the VoteWord for Iowa d r d d r. In the last six elections the state has been closely contested, voting narrowly for the Republican Party candidate in 2016 and 2020 after voting for the Democratic Party in 2008 and 2012. Virginia (r r d d d D) has voted for the Democratic Party in the last three elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in Wilmington, DE
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 13,373 contributions totaling $3,426,419 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $256 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 2,138 contributions totaling $1,723,784 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $806 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)